(Over this Winter holiday we watched Jean-Luc Godard’s‘anti-musical’ musical“Une femme est une femme” (A Woman is a Woman,1961) & I instantaneously fell in love with the lead actress Anna Karina. – Obviously the director fell for her too, as they married after filming!)

(She’s sooo cute! I hear Agnès b. has channeled Anna Karina as the muse for their latest collection. I wonder if they sell a similar trench coat & cardi? I must get myself to one of their shops…!)

(In the strip cabaret: This was the ‘it’ scene for me, when she seductively sang to the camera, about her beauty. The song melody has been playing in my head ever since…!)
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Firstly, Happy New Year to you!

Every time I greet the new year, I just can not believe that it’s ‘Another’ new year. It’s like ‘What?! 2008?!!’ How can time fly so quickly? I mean, I still can’t believe we’re in the 200x (in the Noughties) anyways!

Maybe my reaction is a sign of getting old… *sigh…*
Just yesterday, our friend T told us how he had a work-experience student coming in for a week at his workplace, who’s born in the… mid-90’s! – Huh?! mid-90’s??! Everyone around the dinner-table (all aged 30+) shook their heads in disbelief (& consequently checked if their ears are still hearing correct)!

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SO, dearest blog readers! Have you thought of what your new year’s resolution might be? Any plans or goals for this year? In Japan, we say “1年の計は元旦にあり”, It means New Year’s Day is the right timing to plan your year ahead when your mind & spirit is fresh.
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Huh? What? My new year’s resolution/ plan?
Well, I’d like 2008 to be about re-establishing my passion for making chocolates & pastry making. On self-reflection, the whirlwind of the last two years, franticly making the same stuff for every Saturday, had not given me enough time for new explorations. And the products I produce for the market is often limited/ restricted to popular stuff that would sell well, & I certainly hadn’t been making desserts (such as with mousse, ice-cream, etc) that is not suited to sell if not in a refrigerated food display.

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This year’s schedule is going to be quite different, what with giving birth to my second child. – meaning I’d be spending a lot more time at home, meaning there’ll be a bit more ‘Me’-Time! Yay! Very exciting. I want to use that time to make new desserts & do all-sorts of things I wanted to do but couldn’t because of my market-commitments. Be it working on my camera-skills, channeling sexy-cute Anna Karina for fashion…, & how about being a better mommy who’s there everyday… …
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Currently I’m thinking of working for another one more month in February (I want to be selling chocolates for the Valentine’s season), before giving birth. And then give myself a six month break, & go back to regularly doing the market again from around mid to end of September (I want to start after my first child starts reception class – he’s gonna be going All-day 9.00 to 3.30!). I’ll be working for the whole of the Winter season, which is the best season for selling my chocolates.

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– So for anyone who visits my stall, it seems like I won’t be around much this year… I will miss you…

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“Happy New Year to you! May every great new day
Bring you sweet surprises!”

Related

G’d morning Louise!!
The film really was inspirational for cute fashion, so I went to agnes b. yesterday (there’s January sales on right now in UK) but I couldn’t find anything I wanted to get… (except for a coat that was £265.00 in a size too big for me). – Anyway, I hope you like the film – it’s a bit of an odd one with it’s own time frame & unusual scripting.

Happy New Year Tamami-san!
(not sure if you recall my name but I’m the one from Dubai, with a big (and only) dream to have my own pastry shop).
I was just wondering, will you be posting any valentine’s day recipe this year? coz’, this year, I’m thinking of showering my family and loved ones with a unique valentine’s day gift.
It would be great if you could suggest me something unique, different and yummy!
Thank you

Happy New Year to you too Yu!
To be honest, I’m not sure what to write for the valentine’s day post yet (sorry!) – Quite often I just write what-ever I felt like writing that week… & when it comes to publishing recipes – I want to make them several times (to be confident enough) before ever mentioning it on here – which is probably why I hadn’t posted much recipes recently as I’m getting rather slack these days…!
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Valentine’s idea-wise, I think anything heart-shaped will be spot on. Maybe try Martha Stewart’s food site at:http://www.marthastewart.com/food

and trawl through their big bag of ideas…?
Anyway, good luck with the Valentine’s gifts! Let me know & share it with us if you come up with great ideas!

Luckily I found you before your six month hiatus from your stall, so I’m going to make a point to swing by before the end of Feb! :) If you see a round Chinese girl with a round face (yes I’m very round, it’s all those cakes) with shining eyes that grow increasingly bigger whilst oogling your goodies, that’d be me LOL XD

Hello Jan!
What are you on about Lady! I just saw a pic of you on your blog, and you’ve not got a round face! :-) very pretty too! – Anyway, welcome to the blog, and hope to see you at the market in Feb!

It's one of my food-porn books that I take on train journeys instead of a novel. ~ I like that this book is just words, no pictures. Normally I would have said that every cookbook ought to have pictures for ALL the recipes, but, I make this the exception. The recipes read so well, that I can picture the dish being cooked in my mind...